Looking at buying a "new" truck here in the next month... My Tahoe is getting old and needs a new home. Pretty sure I want to buy either a slightly used GMC or Chevy 1500 crew cab, somewhere between 2007 & 2010. As I'm looking at these I have been seeing a few hybrids here and there (roughly the same price arena). Truck will be used to tow the boat (not far, only a few miles to the launch) but I also do construction and put a lot of miles on. I'm intrigued at 22mpg in the city in a full size truck. So the question is does anybody have one and how is the mileage & maintenance? How are they holding up and are you happy with it? The biggest thing that scares me is if something breaks, will I be forced to go the dealership and pay out the a$$? Any insight would be appreciated...
Aaron

if i were looking for 22mpg and a good puller i would look at the 5.9ctd dodge. but if all you pull is a ski boat it should do fine. if i have something with a battery in it i will have trouble with it. weather its a cel phone,cordless drill or a truck

Not sure about other brands, but I have the dodge 1500 with hemi and it shuts off 4 cylinders to get 20 hwy. It also does it in town as the actuation is very quick, so it very commonly shifts in and out of 4 cyl mode. There's also a tow/haul mode which disallows 4 cyl mode and deactivates 5thgear.

I've got a 2008 2WD GMC Sierra 1500 with the 5.3L displacement on demand (cylinder deactivation). Its a daily driver and I get around 16mpg combined. The best all highway mileage I've gotten is about 21-22mpg, towing I'll get around 11 or 12mpg. So far I've towed upwards of 6500lbs with the stock hitch setup. I've never been stuck or left spinning out on the launch ramp with the locking rear end, 4wd isn't necessary.

Personally I would get the hybrid version if I had the money. Its a great truck and a real world 30% increase in mpg is huge.

24-26 mpg whether you tow or not? Seriously? I mean I'm a big diesel truck fan, but that's like the same gas milage as a Mazda 3 or something (around 28 mpg). I have never seen any diesel truck get 26 mpg while towing a boat. Not even close. Just saying...

GMC's hybrid truck also has cylinder deactivation, but that's not where it gets its big economy increase from. It gets it from engine stop/start, regen, and electric modes.

The way it works is it has an on-board battery pack and two electric motors inside the transmission. It uses the electric power at low speeds and is able to run with the engine off completely. As you increase speed the engine will turn on around 30-35 mph and combine the power of the electric motors and the engine, at freeway speeds its almost all motor power.

When the battery pack is getting low, it is charged a few different ways. One is through regenerative braking, it takes that energy you would usually waste in heat on your brakes and converts it into electricity. The second is from the gas engine, usually you are at a stop light and just idling wasting fuel, it takes those times and charges the battery pack up. The third is while you are moving, if the battery pack is low and you are going slow enough to not need the engine, it will turn back on and charge the pack up then shut off again.

They actually used the 6.0L engine in the hybrid set-up instead of the more fuel efficient 5.3L, so to compare apples to apples, it boosts mpg from 13 city /18 hwy to 21 city / 22 hwy.

Thanks for the info guys... I'll take a look at the Dodge. I'm not sure I want to go to a 3/4 ton, if I did it would have to be a diesel and I just really don't need a truck that big. Boat isn't that big and I never trailer it that far.

Do yourself a favor and at least test drive a new Tundra (07-11)... I've been a chevy/GM guy all my life and the new Tundra's are flat out impressive trucks. I get 20-21 on the highway and 16 in town. I just recently bought and was shopping newer GMs, as well as newer F150's. Test drove a tundra on a whim and it blew the other trucks away.

Just for some more reference points. I towed yesterday and actually recorded the mileage. GMC 1500 2WD with the 5.3L towing a 21' offshore boat, round trip mountains yielded 11 mpg.

I like the Tundras too, my only grip is they don't have a locking rear end so if your pulling out of the water and one tire slips, its just going to spin and you aren't going to go anywhere. You would be fine with 4wd, it just costs more, hurts your mileage, and will cost more to maintain/repair in the long run.

I have the '04 Dodge Hemi with no cylinder deactivation and I can get 20 MPG hwy not towing and 12-13 towing.

My sister in law has a Honda Odyssey that's the same as ours accept hers has the "ECO mode" (Cylinder deactivation, variable displacement, whatever you call it) and they actually get worse mileage than us when we're on road trips convoying together. We can get 28-30 hwy but they're barely getting 25 driving at the same speed.

So, it makes a lot of sense but I'm not seeing the benefit. It cost more to implement and is a potential source of future problems with little to no improvement in mileage.

I'd love to see a small displacement, normally aspirated (Not turbo) 1/2 ton diesel truck come out. I think a little, bullet proof, fuel efficient 4 or 6 cylinder diesel that could tow 8-10k would be really appealing to your average boat/small camper owner and could get 25+ MPG highway when on daily driver duty.